How did that one guy deal with blood loss when he cut off his upper arm after a tree fell on him in real life? You know the dude that used a pocket knife.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aron_Ra...
Oh I guess it was rock but it seems possible. Wait a minute I'm pretty sure there was tree guy also.

I counter your argument!!! (is this still spoilerish? kinda, I guess)

Spoiler:

By the time Aron Ralston cut off his arm, it had been stuck beneath a boulder for three days. He used a tourniquet for starters, and by then, it had been crushed and was mostly dead anyhow, the pressure cutting off blood flow to the arm. My guess is that necrosis had set in by then.

By the time Aron Ralston cut off his arm, it had been stuck beneath a boulder for three days. He used a tourniquet for starters, and by then, it had been crushed and was mostly dead anyhow, the pressure cutting off blood flow to the arm. My guess is that necrosis had set in by then.

My mind went to Chrono Trigger as well, though truth told I still find the beauty of Chrono Trigger to be the fact that none of the decisions were presented as good or bad. Technically most choices in The Walking Dead aren't, either, but you know they matter. That's part of the game's point.

So when all of a sudden the game says "He stole my lunch!" and your life is on the line, it carries a whole new surprising meaning. What was originally just a fun little inconsequential choice is now determining whether you are found guilty and sent to the chopping block or not.

As for the rest of it, well, my thoughts are summed up in today's podcast post.

I chose to avoid amputation in the beginning of episode 5, but I had no illusions on the outcome either. I completely agree on your take on how it's no longer your world, or rather Lee's world, it's now Clementine's, and the rest is out of your hands. Absolutely brilliantly done on Telletale's part.

Also, I'm guessing I should set some time aside one of these days to play Chrono Trigger...

Fired up Episode 5 earlier tonight and was greeted to the Episode 1 intro sequence. Scared the beejezus out of me. I promptly quit and restarted the last episode. It loaded up correctly this time. Sigh of relief. Very glad nothing happened to my save file.

Episode 4 was doing something wonky too where I it would "Rewind" when I just wanted to select Play. Each session would need to be restarted once to resolve. Bugs like this still, Telltale?

I have played through the first two episodes and this is it? It is a couple hours of stuff and then kind of a major decision. I don't think these are very good adventure games at all, I mean when it comes to game part. Does it get better as it goes on?

I have played through the first two episodes and this is it? It is a couple hours of stuff and then kind of a major decision. I don't think these are very good adventure games at all, I mean when it comes to game part. Does it get better as it goes on?

Depends on what you're looking for. It feels like the puzzles get easier, but the game's greater focus is on interacting with the other characters.

I have played through the first two episodes and this is it? It is a couple hours of stuff and then kind of a major decision. I don't think these are very good adventure games at all, I mean when it comes to game part. Does it get better as it goes on?

If you've played the first two episodes and you need to ask that question, then you might as well stop now. I don't think you will change your mind.

The conversation of whether this is a game is crazy to me. There are choices, and results. It is on a digital platform played through computers or consoles. There are traditional game states such as death screens. Whether it is in line with other games you typically play does not change the fact that it is a game.

Everything that starts out as a cultural revolution ends up as capitalist routine.
-David Brooks || Steam: Demonbox

The conversation of whether this is a game is crazy to me. There are choices, and results. It is on a digital platform played through computers or consoles. There are traditional game states such as death screens. Whether it is in line with other games you typically play does not change the fact that it is a game.

Actually, let's take the beginning of episode two as an example here and compare it to a Mass Effect 3 spoiler. I'll keep both spoiler tagged separately.

Walking Dead:

Spoiler:

Beginning of Episode Two brings you to three kids around their teacher who is caught in a bear trap. There are two end results here.

- You bring the teacher, down one leg, to camp.
- You bring the kid that is not Ben, a bullet in his gut, back to camp.

Either way, you bring Ben and an injured person to camp while the other person gets eaten by zombies. So there's an extent that things are scripted.

However, in order to change the outcome, you must either immediately choose to chop the guy's leg off or only dilly dally for a little bit. If you spend time trying every other option BEFORE choosing to chop off the man's leg, then you won't have enough time. I know this because I got almost all the way through and was dragged away. Note that the action of having to chop the leg off is a different challenge. If you are not emotionally invested, then sure, chop the leg off and it is easy. But if you're emotionally invested then each chop of the axe will make you cringe and cause hesitation.

In other words, the game relies on player interaction to change the outcome and also manipulate the player's feelings. Most games just go after things like adrenaline. The Walking Dead tries something different. However, because it is story heavy, people insist Walking Dead isn't "really a game".

Mass Effect 3 comparison:

Spoiler:

Moridin Solace dies in Mass Effect 3 no matter what. The only difference is either you leave him to die or you put a bullet in him yourself.

But it's essentially the same thing. The only difference is Mass Effect has generic shooty-bits that make it fit into the socially accepted idea of what a "game" is more easily.

I enjoyed the experience more with a controller. Not disagreeing with you point, still I think I preferred.

That's fine, and I'm sure I will do fine with controller. It's just stupid. I think console games should even allow remapping of controls as well.

Yeah, I can't see how to disagree with that. Wha are the limitations to allowing selectable control options? If it was a piece of pie why wouldn't all games allow this (even if the choices were paired down into builds)?

Agree, but curious.

Everything that starts out as a cultural revolution ends up as capitalist routine.
-David Brooks || Steam: Demonbox

OK, I'm starting out mad after buying this on sale. They don't let you remap movement keys on PC?
There's even a post on their forums saying you can't remap by design.
What about your disabled gamers, people that use other keyboards (international) etc?
Stupid, and gives me a very bad feeling about Tell Tale and future purchases of their stuff.
Guess I'm playing with a controller.

I agree 100%. I'm currently using an "AZERTY" keyboard instead of a QWERTY, and I have to alt+shift every time I play the game to make it think I'm using a QWERTY. Not a hugs problem, and it didn't deter from my enjoyment of the game, but a minor nuisance that could've been swiftly remedied by a simple remapping of the keys. Baffles me that they don't allow you to do that.

I'm pretty sure it's development budget and testing budget. They just didn't think it was worth it for the time spent doing it. Implementing would open up a whole lot of test cases I would assume (although it might be stuff that could be automated).

For instance, I just came across a bug in the Hawken beta where you couldn't dash right if you're right movement key was "R" and you used left shift for dash. You could use other key combos, like R for right and Q for dash, but not the specific shift-R combo. Digging around the forums, there were some other similar combos causing problems.

So you might be opening yourself up to obscure key binding things like that.

I'm pretty sure it's development budget and testing budget. They just didn't think it was worth it for the time spent doing it. Implementing would open up a whole lot of test cases I would assume (although it might be stuff that could be automated).
For instance, I just came across a bug in the Hawken beta where you couldn't dash right if you're right movement key was "R" and you used left shift for dash. You could use other key combos, like R for right and Q for dash, but not the specific shift-R combo. Digging around the forums, there were some other similar combos causing problems.
So you might be opening yourself up to obscure key binding things like that.
Still, this is stuff that's been doable forever.

Oh wow, I had absolutely no idea. I'll admit, I thought it was a whole lot simpler. But yeah, like you said, it's been done before....
Back on track, this game really stays with you, I've been thinking about my choices, and I've half a mind to go back and do exactly the opposite of what I did. Not that I think it'll change the story as a whole, but just because it's so great.
Also, I'm playing with the idea of making Lee *never* talk.

Forgive me for asking something no doubt ignorant, and possibly covered, but my Google Fu has proven inferior, and I'm avoiding spoilers: Anyone know of an outlet that will let me gift the Mac version to someone without Steam? Amazon specifically says I can't, but surely I can game the system somehow, right?

Actual gamewise: I'm on Episode 4, and am really hating:

Spoiler:

Kenny, that swamp trog hypocrite moron failure. Alas, since I'm trying to be Mr. Nice Guy Truth Teller, I think I'm locking myself out of the tersest responses to him. Lilly's second biggest crime was leaving me stranded with him